Acts 1: 3-7 "He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you ar this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority."
We have all heard it said many times that we must wait on God's timing, things do not happen according to our timing but only when God wants them too. Sure we have often tried to "force" our own agenda and it might have worked in the short term, but ultimately we must submit and embrace God's timing.
I was reading the first chapter of Acts and I tried to imagine how the apostles must have felt. They are spending time with the risen Lord, they are eating with him and he is telling them about God's kingdom. They had to be excited, but then he tells them to wait. They had to wait on the Holy Spirit. In their minds they had to be saying, "Oh yeah, of course we need to have the Holy Spirit first... THEN we get to have the kingdom restored. I get it. Ok, Jesus said a few days.. so this time next week we will be living in the kingdom, Great plan God. I love it!"
In my mind that internal dialog would have prompted them questioning that God was going to restore the kingdom then. They had been hanging out for 40 days, within a few days they would receive this great and wonderful gift... it only made sense. The next verses had to crush them, but they had to accept it and they did.
Just a thought, but if God created the heavens and the Earth in 6 days... how much better is heaven going to be? I try to write a prayer when I finish reading, the areas I need to change, grow, or be thankful for... today one phrase came to me... "help me celebrate the waiting." It is through waiting that God can prepare us to be used, and by waiting on God we are always available...
Comments